I've asked Mark Irvine a.k.a. Irv to stop commenting on this blog. If he does comment, I'll delete it.

I didn't arrive at this conclusion lightly. Earlier today I received a second threat from him this week. Quite simply, I'm not going to accept that.

This blog, which turns 11 later this week, has always been a hobby of mine where I've honed communication, digital marketing and web authoring skills. It's also a great deal of fun for me. I've often said, when this stops being fun, I'll shut it down.

Being threatened by Irv is not fun. I've had it. He joins Dave Williams in a very exclusive club of those banned from commenting here.

If you think I'm being too harsh, I'd love for you to comment below. As always, I welcome alternative viewpoints and opinions.

Commenter Ben doesn't always use the divider when putting his groceries on the conveyer belt. He also calls the divider "a baton", which may or may not be the proper term. I haven't got around to Googling that one yet...

Ben just tweeted at me that he's not an asshole because he doesn't use the grocery store divider. Apparently, I called him an asshole during the most recent episode of Toronto Mike'd. I can't exactly recall as Rosie got me sugar drunk on peppermint mocha before I clicked "record".

As a one-time grocery clerk at the Galleria Mall Food City who occasionally worked as a cashier for extra hours let me tell you how nice it is when your divider removes the guess work. Don't make the poor cashier decide for him or herself whether the groceries belong to you or the person in front or behind you. Use the damn divider.

Two second of effort keeps the system intact. Don't be an asshole!

What do you think about the grocery store divider? Are there times when you won't use it (assuming there's one there)? Is that really okay?

The other day, while I was watching the Leafs game, the broadcast experienced an issue with their audio mix. The sound of the game remained loud, but those in the booth became quite muted. For a glorious five minutes I watched the game only hearing the crowd, the players and sounds of the game, like the blade along the ice and the puck along the boards.

It was great. The best hockey commentators and analysts know when to shut up, and they don't do it nearly often enough. I don't need them to fill up every second with words, sometimes I just want to hear the game and see the action for myself.

I watch every Leafs game possible, and as much NHL playoff hockey as I can find. Rogers Communications securing a $5.2-billion deal for the right to broadcast NHL games across Canada for the next 12 years doesn't bother me, so long as they provide me with a live HD feed and put quality hockey people on the broadcast.

It's no secret my favourite Hockey Night in Canada games feature Bob Cole calling the action, and that rarely happens these days. It's usually Jim Hughson, who I can take or leave. I'm there to watch the game and just hope whoever is calling the action isn't particularly annoying.

And that's it. I just want to watch my Leafs and the playoffs, ideally my Leafs in the playoffs. Whether it's on CBC, TSN, Sportsnet or Leafs TV makes little difference to me. We got over losing the old HNIC theme song and we'll get over this.

After all, it's all about what the content is, not where it can be found.

Current Buffalo Bills owner, Ralph Wilson, is 95-years old. As soon as he kicks the bucket, Jon Bon Jovi may lead a group of investors who will buy the franchise and move it to Toronto. MLSE "would likely build and operate an NFL-caliber stadium in Toronto, possibly near Downsview Park or Woodbine Racetrack."

But what of the Argos? That same National Post article suggests MLSE may buy the Argonauts and move the team from the Rogers Centre to the smaller BMO Field. One hand washes the other, as Dr. Nick Riviera would say.

Ok fine, bring the Bills to Toronto and build a new NFL stadium in Toronto, just don't put one penny of our money toward the operation. I'm pretty sure MLSE's pockets are deep enough to handle this one on their own.

It's November 24th and I've only watched one quarter of NFL football this season. I caught the final quarter of Denver's 51 - 48 win over Dallas on October 6 and I got sucked in because it was Peyton Manning and I couldn't believe the number of points on the board.

I don't miss it at all. The NFL is very American... very militaristic with lots of hype and commercialism but very little actual action. In fact, the average NFL game "lasts 3 hours and 12 minutes, but if you tally up the time when the ball is actually in play, the action amounts to a mere 11 minutes."

11 minutes of action in a game that takes over three hours to watch. I'm glad I bailed when I did. I know too many people who can't leave their televisions on Sundays because they can't miss a minute of the big NFL machine.

It's not just the mere 11 minutes of action that sucks, it's also the 100+ ads you're subjected to and the fact an average play in the NFL lasts just four seconds.

The radio microphones were present at a Boston Symphony Orchestra concert at an extraordinary moment in American history.

On November 22, 1963, conductor Erich Leinsdorf was leading the regular Friday afternoon BSO concert at Symphony Hall. Before the program began, it had been reported across the nation that president John F. Kennedy had been shot by a sniper while riding in a motorcade in Dallas. It was known, too, that his injuries were serious, but that was all the information that was available.

During the first half of the concert, what was feared became confirmed: Kennedy's wounds were fatal. Monitoring news reports backstage at Symphony Hall, orchestra officials determined to continue the concert, but with a change in the program. Librarians pulled orchestral parts to Beethoven's "Eroica" funeral march from the shelves and brought them down to the stage door. After learning of the tragedy himself backstage, Leinsdorf walked back onstage, relayed word to the audience, and led the BSO in a work in tribute to the nation's fallen leader.

#1: That he’s saved Toronto a billion dollars

His billion-dollar boast includes things like revenue cuts projected over four years that are wrongly classified as budget savings, savings from contracting out garbage collection projected over the seven-year life of the contract, some double-counted savings, and a bunch of vague efficiency savings — many of which are based on hypotheticals and, either way, don’t differ too much from the amounts previous councils have “saved” year-over-year.

#2: That he inherited a bankrupt city

Ford likes to talk about how he inherited a city on the verge of bankruptcy. But he actually inherited a city with a $364-million surplus, an excellent credit rating and a per-capita debt level lower than many other North American cities, including Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton.

#3: That he is responsible for the city’s construction boom or falling unemployment

On this subject, Ford has a curious habit of overstating figures for no reason. I don’t know why. The city unemployment rate did go down during his term: from 9.4 per cent when he took office to around seven per cent this past summer. But Ford likes to claim the unemployment rate when he took office was somewhere around 11 per cent. It’s never been clear why he insists on taking a legitimate good news story and throwing in an unnecessary exaggeration.

#4: That he has the support of the people

According to recent poll numbers by Ipsos-Reid, only 34 per cent of people think Ford is trustworthy. When they asked about next year’s election, a full 62 per cent said there is no way they would vote for Ford under any circumstances. When Ipsos polled likely match-ups for next year’s municipal election they found Ford could only count on about 20 per cent of the vote in most multi-candidate match-ups.

#5: That he’s never wasted taxpayer money

On his first day in office, Ford unilaterally put a stop to the construction of four fully-funded light rail transit lines. We later found out that he had no legal authority to stop the work. Before council overruled that decision a year later, the cost of the cancellation was estimated at more than $65 million, with about $45 million in additional sunk costs.

That wasn’t a one-time thing, either. Ford was also more than happy to sign off on at least $85 million worth of cancellation costs related to the previously-approved Scarborough LRT.

Ford’s not free from expense scandals either. In the fall of 2012, two TTC buses were dispatched to pick up the football team the mayor was coaching at the time. There’s also been allegations that the mayor used his staff to help run football teams he coached.

More recently, police surveillance documents released by the courts include interviews with former Ford staffers who claimed the mayor sometimes asked his publicly-funded office staff to run various personal errands for him – everything from picking up liquor to coming to his house to change light bulbs.

I shared my early thoughts on the LG G2 Android smartphone but since then I've been using it exlusively. I literally set my Samsung Galaxy S Infuse 4G to forward all calls to the LG G2 Telus lent me and I've only been carrying the LG all month. My apologies for anyone who's been text messaging me these last few weeks, I haven't figured out how to forward those.

The biggest change has been the battery life. I can go two days without a charge, and that's with pretty heavy usage. I'll stream the radio and Songza, track my bike rides via GPS, check Gmail, Twitter and Facebook frequently and will always be surprised I've only used 55% of the battery at the end of the day.

I also love the size and speed. It's got a bigger screen and it's a great deal faster. Of course, this isn't a fair fight... Samsung recently released their Galaxy S4 making my model three whole generations behind. I'd love to compare this LG G2 to a Samsung Galaxy S4.

Make sure you’re on a legit site. This is an obvious one. If you’ve never heard of that company before, do some looking around first. Also, keep in mind that some vendors have different US and Canadian sites. This could change some of the inventory and shipping costs.

Find out the shipping options and costs. If the vendor is local, you might even be able to pick it up yourself to save on shipping costs. Also, consider the shipping couriers they use, e.g., Canada Post, UPS, FedEx, USPS, etc. If duty and handling charges are involved, these prices may vary depending on the courier.

Find out the exchange/return policy and costs. There are some sites that offer free exchanges and returns, i.e., you don’t have to pay for shipping costs. There are also some that allow these transactions at stores so you don’t have to go through mail. Just make sure you don’t get stuck paying to return something. Most of the time, the initial shipping costs aren’t refundable so why would want to pay twice?

Look for coupon/promo codes. RetailMeNot is a good site to check. Retailers also use social media to push promo codes, so check their Twitter feeds or Facebook pages.

For clothing or shoes, try it on in a store first before purchasing online if possible. If you can’t, look for reviews. They will tell you if things fit small/large, the quality of the item, etc.

Pay with a PayPal account. It’s free and it offers a good purchase protection for buyers.

Check your payment account regularly, e.g. credit card statements or PayPal. Thankfully, my account has not been compromised with all the online shopping I’ve done, but it’s always good to check. Also, it’s good to verify the purchase charges.

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Now that Coach's Corner has ended, I have a minute to share five thoughts rumbling through my mind...

David Clarkson

Will David Clarkson ever score for the Leafs? He hasn't looked bad, something's just a little off... Perhaps he's pressing while playing for the team he grew up idolizing? Maybe he's still rusty after missing the first ten games of the season? I don't know what's wrong, but this isn't the David Clarkson we're paying for.

UFC

I care less about UFC today than I ever have, and I've never cared about UFC. The tweets pollute my feed on Saturday nights but I just ignore them. UFC ain't for me.

Xmas Music

I rarely go into stores, but yesterday I had to buy a new rake. I visited a Canadian Tire and was inundated with Christmas music. It's just too early for that crap...

The Santa Claus Parade

My daughter is attending a baby shower in Aurora tomorrow and won't be able to make the Santa Claus Parade. My son and I have decided to skip the big parade and check out the smaller Lake Shore parade in December instead. That ends quite the streak for me...

We Are Toronto

There's a Tumblr site making the rounds called "We Are Toronto" and I'm honoured to have been included. Thanks to whoever nominated me... and that means you, Joanne.

Parent-teacher interviews were last week, and both of my children received stellar reviews. What pleased me most wasn't how bright they are or how well they did in their studies, it was what their teachers had to say about their individual character. Both are kind, helpful students who work well with others and create a better environment for all. Hearing that brought a huge smile to my face.

My 11-year old son and 9-year old daughter have been raised without a stitch of religion. They weren't baptized, have never prayed and don't believe in heaven, hell or an afterlife of any kind. They're not being kind to others as a means to go to heaven, they're being kind to others because they want to and were raised to treat everyone the way they'd like to be treated.

To be clear, I didn't raise my kids to be atheists or to regard all religion as fiction, I merely raised them without any religion at all. We discussed world religions the way we discussed geography or history. When one of them wanted to talk about god or heaven or hell, we talked about it openly. I'd do a lot of listening. Each on their own arrived at the conclusion that religion was man-made and purely symbolic story telling.

I've been married twice, once at Old City Hall by a Justice of the Peace and once in an art gallery by an Officiant. The word "god" wasn't uttered once in either ceremony.

I'm very much looking forward to the birth of my third child in the spring. He or she (I'll know which next week) will not be baptized and will also be raised without religion.

I wasn't raised without religion. I grew up in a typical Catholic home, collecting sacraments, going to church on Sundays and attending Catholic schools until University. I believed what my parents told me to believe. It wasn't until my 20s that I truly saw everything with my own eyes.

Remove the shackles of religion and experience true freedom. It's easy if you try.

I have a good friend who would consider himself a proud member of Ford Nation. At least he used to. Today, that same friend tells me Rob Ford has to resign. At some point over the past few weeks, a straw broke the proverbial camel's back.

Looking back at Rob Ford's first day in office, it's interesting to read what I wrote.

This was day one. It's going to be a very interesting time, and I'm just wondering how long it will be until this idiot implodes or our city explodes.

As I write this entry, Rob Ford is still mayor of Toronto, and it doesn't look like he's going anywhere. Meanwhile, council will strip his powers, Rob Ford will continue to live in a state of denial and all of Toronto will suffer.

It's sad, humiliating, embarrassing and unfortunate, but we have noone to blame but ourselves. We did this, and now we live with it until the next election. Shame on us all.

Gillette is a major Movember partner this year and to celebrate the partnership, Gillette is going to give a Toronto Mike reader a Gillette Fusion ProGlide Styler and the Gillette Fusion ProGlide Clear Shave Gel.

The Gillette Fusion ProGlide Styler is a 3-in-1 precision grooming tool that combines Braun engineering and Gillette Fusion ProGlide technology, to trims evenly, shave closely and edges accurately – helping men achieve their desired Mo style for Movember. Join Gillette and help turn men into gentlemen this Movember by heading to their Facebook page.

If you'd like to win this Gillette Fusion ProGlide Styler and the Gillette Fusion ProGlide Clear Shave Gel, either for yourself or to re-gift to a loved one, simply leave a comment on this entry by November 15 at midnight. Just be sure to put your email address in the email field. I'll randomly pick a winner. Good luck!

I've played on the same slo-pitch team for well over a decade now. Some of the parts change, but the core of this team has stayed intact since the early 2000s. As I bounced around the infield, there's only been one man in left field, and that's been Mike Kic.

In addition to being Storm's left fielder, Mike Kic is one of the very best people I know. When Mike Kic married fellow Storm teammate Jordy in 2008, I was honoured to be there. In addition to being a dear friend, Mike Kic is also bananas. I wouldn't have got married in June without him in attendance.

Mike Kic was recently diagnosed with stage IV esophageal cancer. On Friday, he begins treatment. The fight is on so I'm going to do what I've always done when Mike Kic prepares to battle. I'm betting on Kic.

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, Canadians pause and remember the thousands of men and women who sacrificed their lives fighting for freedom and democracy during the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, the Afghanistan conflict and during peacekeeping missions.

I've scoured my site for relevant entries. Here are some you may want to revisit today.

Call it a crisis of leadership. - Proposition Joe

Rob Ford lost the majority of council long ago, but now he's lost those in his inner circle. With zero integrity and no moral authority to lead, he's literally in the way. Toronto currently has no leader.

We fight on that lie. - Slim Charles

Ford Nation reminds me of America's Tea Party. If it's a lie, they fight on that lie. I have otherwise sensible friends who devour every lie Rob Ford tells despite evidence to the contrary. With these blind followers, it's more about being with Rob Ford than being right.

You play in dirt, you get dirty. - McNulty

Until Rob Ford takes accountability for his poor decisions and harmful actions, this saga will continue. Rob Ford has his hands dirty and it soils us all. It's difficult to say it any better than Jimmy McNulty said it.

A lie ain't a side of a story. It's just a lie. - Terry Hanning

For months Rob Ford has been lying through his teeth with no regard for the reputations he tarnished and the integrity he cost himself and his esteemed office. Historically this has been Rob Ford's move: lie and deny until faced with absolute proof and then deflect and blame the messenger. But Rob Ford's lies aren't a side of the story, they're just lies. And lies cannot live.

As a kid and teenager, the old Runnymede Theatre on Bloor Street was one of the two movie theatres I frequented. I wrote about my Runnymede Theatre memories seven years ago.

When the theatre was closing, there was concern whether the new tenants would be able to preserve the history and beauty of this old vaudeville theatre. I was very pleased with the job Chapters did, as you'll see from these photos I took.

Unfortunately, Chapters won't be renewing their lease and will be leaving this great historical space. A Shoppers Drug Mart is moving in, and I worry about how they'll treat the great interior.

Yesterday I did an interview with the Toronto Star that ended up on the front page of today's Life & Entertainment section. In about an hour I'm expecting a visit from Global News and I might have the CBC dropping in this evening.

Rogers Media let go 94 people across the country yesterday including Barb DiGiulio at The FAN 590.

Admittedly, I hadn't heard Barb DiGiulio in quite some time, but in the early 90s I listened almost daily as she joined Gord Stellick on the Big Show. It was fun radio for this teenager at a time when the Jays were World Series contenders and the Leafs were improving quickly with Cliff Fletcher at the helm.

If memory serves me correctly, Barb DiGiulio was seriously considered as Jim Tatti's replacement on Sportsline. Now there's an early 90s Toronto sports flashback for ya.

The following is two comments I made on today's Open Mike. They were written quickly but from the heart following an intense discussion with my two kids as I took them to school this morning.

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Driving my kids to school today, my 11-year old son asked me if Rob Ford's father owned a park.

I asked him why...

He proceeded to tell me a story he heard from a friend at school. Apparently this tale was told in the schoolyard and these 11-year olds couldn't believe it.

The story was that Rob Ford and a buddy would go to a nearby park named for his father and drink booze all night, then they would smash the glass bottles in the park.

That's when it hit me... why I find it so upsetting that Rob Ford acts this way as mayor. That story was almost all completely true. There are thousands and thousands of impressionable kids in this city who are literally being told by their moms and dads to "not be like the mayor". Don't abuse drugs and alcohol, don't drink and drive, don't lie, don't smash bottles in public parks and respect and work well with others.

Don't be like Rob Ford. It is indeed very, very sad. Our hopes and dreams for our children is that they not grow up to be like the mayor of Toronto.

This discussion launched a big "disrespectful and inappropriate things our mayor does" conversation with both of my kids.

We talked about the lack of accountability, the drug and alcohol abuse, the bully tactics, the disrespect for parks, the drinking and driving, the constant lies and denials, the homophobic slurs, the racial slurs and the enabling by his brother.

It was this discussion with my kids about the realities of our current situation that made me realize how horrific it's all become, and they were spared the potential ties to murders, beatings and extortion.